Welcome to Somewhere Over the Rhine

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Today, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory and City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr. announced a huge step forward in the Streetcar Project. Before a large crowd inside the new Rookwood Pottery headquarters on Race Street in Over the Rhine, Dohoney announced that the Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners would be the official company hired to Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain the new Streetcar System in Cincinnati.

Mayor Mallory and City Manager Dohoney both emphasized the importance of the Streetcar system for spurring development, bringing in new businesses, new jobs, new housing, and new people to Cincinnati. They also said that the benefits of streetcars as a "game changing agent for this city far outweigh any negatives."

They chose the Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners after carefully reviewing the applications of 4 different development firms that all had national and international expertise in the field. It sounds as if their choice was based in part on the careful attention to detail that the partnership demonstrated in their application and their dedication to ensuring local job creation for the laborers needed to build the lines.

Fred Craig, Program Manager for Streetcar Development Partners and Parsons Brinckerhoff, spoke about their enthusiasm for this project and the future of Cincinnati. His company has already demonstrated excellence in timely, on budget projects with the City of Cincinnati such as the Fort Washington Way project and its Transit Center. They are working with HDR Engineering who is nationally recognized for Streetcar planning with experience in bringing Streetcars to Portland, Oregon.

Finally, City Manager Dohoney emphasized the importance of pursuing federal funding for this project given the current economic downturn. The city is working closely with the federal government in seeking as much as $78 million in requests for this project from various federal programs. He specifically said that the various leaders within the Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners are well qualified in helping to obtain federal funding for this project.

The Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners is actually a consortium of 12 companies that will work together on building the Streetcar System. The Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners is made up of the following companies:

Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. (PB) will be responsible for management of the project during its planning, financing, and design.

HDR Engineering as mentioned above has experience with streetcar planning that is nationally recognized. They have a local office made up of over 60 professionals

Burgess & Niple, Ltd. will help with the design phase for utility relocation.

DNK Architects will provide urban station design.

G.J. Berding Inc. will provide digital design support for the design and construction effort

Wordsworth Communications will develop a collaborative strategy engaging the community in the projects design and construction.

PNC Capital Markets will work with PB and HDR to develop a locally structured financial strategy.

Property Advisors will provide economic analyses for benefits associated with the project and help with the financing plan.

Stacy and Witbeck Inc. is a national leader in streetcar and passenger rail construction throughout the United States. They will serve as the construction manager and will be opening a new office in downtown and relocating executives to Cincinnati specifically for this project!

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